Will Your Basin Adjudicate, and if so, How Will That Relate to Basin Management under SGMA?

Article

Author, Western Grower & Shipper, November/December 2017

Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) throughout California’s medium- and high-priority basins are now beginning to develop Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) pursuant to the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Sustainable groundwater management is defined by the avoidance of six “undesirable results” such as chronic lowering of groundwater levels, subsidence, and seawater intrusion—requiring GSAs to curtail overdraft in many basins through reduction of groundwater pumping, artificial basin replenishment, or both. These decisions may be highly controversial and may lead to a groundwater basin adjudication.